Poetic Terms
A small selection
Alliteration—repetition of initial consonant sounds in
neighboring words.
i.e.: wet, wild, and wooly
Allusion - a reference, implicit or explicit to something in
literature or history
Anaphora – repetition of opening word or phrase in a
series of lines
Apostrophe – someone who is dead/absent/non-human is
addressed as if alive, present, and capable of reply
Assonance—repetition of vowel sounds without the
repetition of consonants . i.e.: “… my words like silent
raindrops fell...”
 Blank Verse—an unrhymed form of poetry which
normally consists of ten syllables in which every other
syllable is stressed. (iambic pentameter)
 Canto—division of a long poem.
 Caesura—pause or sudden break in a line of poetry.
 Consonance—repetition of consonant sounds
especially in poetry.
i.e.: girls with smooth skin smile
 Couplet - two consecutive lines of poetry that rhyme.
A couplet that presents a complete thought is called a
closed couplet. Shakespeare used closed couplets to
end his sonnets.
 Euphony – a smooth, pleasant-sounding choice and
arrangement of sounds
 Figurative Language – language that cannot be taken
literally or only literally
 Foot – basic unit in measurement of metrical verse
 Free Verse—poetry that does not have a regular meter
or rhyme scheme.
 Heroic Couplet—2 successive rhyming lines which
contain complete thoughts
 Lyric—a short verse intended to express emotions of the
author; most often lyrics are set to music.
 Meter—repetition of stressed an unstressed syllables in a
line of poetry.
 Ode—lyric poem written to someone or something >
serious and elevated tone.
 Paradox—statement which at first seems contradictory
but which turns out to have a profound meaning.
i.e. : Bob Dylan’s lyric: “I was so much older
then; I’m younger than that now.”
 Psalm—a sacred or religious song or lyric.
 Quatrain – a four line stanza or poem, or a group of four
lines unified by a rhyme scheme.
 Refrain—repetition of a line or a phrase of a poem at regular
intervals, especially at the end of each stanza. Refrain of a
song=chorus.
 Repetition—repeating of a word or a phrase within a poem or a
prose to create a sense of rhyme.
 Rhyme—similarity or likeness of sound existing between two
words.
 Rhyme Scheme – A rhyme scheme is the pattern of rhyming lines
in a poem or in lyrics for music. It is usually referred to by using
letters to indicate which lines rhyme. A change from one rhyme
scheme to another often signifies a change in subject matter
 Rhymed Verse—verse with end rhyme; it usually has a regular
meter.
 Sonnet – 14 line poem, usually in iambic pentameter
with a rhyme scheme following either Italian or English
 Stanza—the division of poetry named for the # of lines it
contains.
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Couplet: 2 line stanza
Triplet: 3 line stanza
Quatrain: 4 line stanza
Quintet: 5 line stanza
Sestet, Septet, Octave
 All others are called 9, 10, 11 line stanzas, etc.
 Tone – the speaker’s attitude toward the subject;
emotional coloring
 Verse—Metrical language; the opposite of prose
(Blank, Free, or Rhymed)
Sonnets

A fourteen line lyric poem usually
written in iambic pentameter, that has
one of several rhyme schemes.
 Three types of sonnets:
1. Petrarchan Sonnet (Italian Sonnet)
2. Shakespeaean Sonnet or English
Sonnet
3. Spensarian Sonnet
Petrarchan Sonnet
 Named after 14th century Italian poet Francis
Pretrarch.
 Divided into two parts.
 Octave (octet) – the first eight lines of the
poem. They usually represent a problem, pose
a question, on express an idea.
 Rhyme scheme of the octave is abbaabba.
 Sestet (turn) – the last six lines of the poem.
They usually resolve the problem, answer the
question, or drive home the point.
 Rhyme scheme of the sestet is cdcdcd or
cdecde.
Shakespearean Sonnet or English
Sonnet
 Has three four-line units (quatrains) usually
followed by a concluding two-line unit (couplet).
 The three quatrains often express related ideas
or examples.
 The couplet sums up the poets conclusion or
message.
 The rhyme scheme is most usually abab cdcd
efef gg.
Spensarian Sonnet
 Developed by Edmund Spenser
 Divided into three quatrains and a
couplet
 The three quatrains develop three distinct
but closely related ideas, with a different
idea (or commentary) in the couplet.
 The rhyme scheme links the quatrains
abab bcbc cdcd ee